The concept of manoeuvrable re-entry vehicles capable of controlled re-entry from earth orbit to tangential landing is attractive to a number of military and civilian space missions. One of the several manoeuvrable re-entry techniques that has been proposed is the lifting body concept. Early studies on lifting body configurations indicated that unpowered horizontal landings would be feasible since subsonic lift/drag ratios of four or better were consistently obtained from model tests in wind tunnels. In 1962 the NASA Flight Research Center initiated a programme to investigate the capability of a pilot to control, manoeuvre, and land a lifting body vehicle. I would like to compare the philosophies and procedures used in the lifting body flight test programme at Edwards Air Force Base with those more commonly used in the flight testing of high performance aircraft. Also I would like to discuss limited results of the M2/F2 flight programme and give one pilot's opinion of the requirements for operational lifting bodies.